No peeking

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It’s a crime to carry a loaded gun in public. But a fenced front yard isn’t public, even if police can easily see someone through the fence.

That’s the message from a state appeals court, which overturned a Los Angeles County man’s drug and gun convictions because officers had no legal reason to enter the yard after seeing him with a gun.

Deputies patrolling a Compton neighborhood in December 2006 said they spotted Shannon Strider standing near the porch of his brother’s house with a handgun in his back pocket. A deputy went through an open gate and chased Strider into the house, where Strider dropped a baggie containing rock cocaine before he was arrested and taken away in handcuffs, the court said.

A judge ruled that the deputy was entitled to enter the yard and the home without a warrant because he had seen Strider commit a crime by possessing a gun in an area visible to the public. Strider was convicted and sentenced to two years in prison.

On Tuesday, however, the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles said the yard wasn’t a public place, because it was surrounded by a high metal fence, so the deputy had no reason to believe Strider was committing a crime when he entered the yard and the home without a warrant.

The court said private property can be considered a public place if it’s open to all. But property that’s surrounded by a fence isn’t public even if it’s visible from the street, the court said. Otherwise, even the inside of a home might be considered a public place if an outsider can see the residents through a window, said Justice Richard Aldrich in the 3-0 ruling.

Strider was paroled after serving a year of his sentence, but the ruling at least lets him clear his record, said defense lawyer Jason Buccat. He said the court also reaffirmed the principle that “just because something’s in open sight doesn’t make it a public area, when it’s got barriers.”